Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Individual members of the Euro Crime review team will be revealing their favourite European/translated reads over the next few days which will then be followed by a post revealing the overall Euro Crime favourite authors, titles and translators of 2014.

I'll start the ball rolling with my favourites. I have read fewer books in 2014 than in 2013 and I also made an effort to read some of my Star Trek books :). Nonetheless I have flagged a significant number of my crime reads as 4 stars on Good Reads - though no 5 stars this year. I have whittled it down to my favourite 5 and it's an all female list. In alphabetical order:

Camilla Lackberg - Buried Angels tr. Tiina Nunnally
Past and present storylines revolve around a small island where a family was slaughtered with the exception of a young girl, who returns to the island as an adult after another tragedy. The case is very personal for one of the police team.

K T Medina - White Crocodile
Another excellent debut, set in Cambodia. It's a claustrophobic read with the author using her knowledge of land-mine clearance to pull the reader into the plight of this country.

Kristina Ohlsson - The Disappeared tr. Marlaine Delargy
If you like Lackberg then try Ohlsson. The personal lives of the police team play a part in the story and the cold case they have to solve impacts on them all.

Yrsa Sigurdardottir - The Day is Dark tr. Philip Roughton
If you liked the X-Files episodes where they are stranded in a frozen part of the world then you'll like this. A very spooky tale set in Greenland with strange noises, human bones and unfriendly local residents. (Read the Review on Euro Crime by Maxine).

Friday, December 26, 2014

(My work's advent calendar with drawings supplied by some of our young borrowers.)

Usually by now I would have posted about the Euro Crime team's favourite discoveries however I am just recovering from a lurgy which left me feeling quite rubbish. However favourite discoveries and favourite reads will be revealed soon so do keep an eye out.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

As well as print copies you can subscribe for pdf versions of Mystery Readers Journal. This next issue should be of particular interest to Euro Crime readers:

CALL FOR ARTICLES:
Scandinavian Mysteries

The next issue of Mystery Readers Journal (Volume 30:4) will focus on Scandinavian Crime Fiction. Looking for reviews, articles and Author! Author! essays. Books can be written by Scandinavian writers or set in Scandinavian countries (or both). Reviews: 50-250 words; Articles: 250-1000 words; Author! Author essays: 500-1500 words. Author essays should be first person, about yourself, your books, and the 'Scandinavian connection'. Think of it as chatting with friends and other writers in the bar or cafe. Add a 2-3 sentence bio/tagline. Deadline: January 10. Send to: Janet Rudolph, Editor. janet@mysteryreaders.org

Monday, December 15, 2014

This Wallander novella, AN EVENT IN AUTUMN was written in 2004 as a freebie for Dutch crime readers and has been televised in the Kenneth Branagh Wallander series and is now available in English.

It is set before the final Wallander book, THE TROUBLED MAN, and Wallander is house hunting. His colleague Martinson suggests a house owned by a cousin of his wife's, out in the country. When Wallander visits however, he discovers a skeletal hand in the back garden.

The story is a straightforward investigation into the identity of the skeleton, which has been there many years, and into the history of the house's previous owners.

It features a typically grumpy and reflective Wallander and is entertaining enough for fans wanting a final glimpse of this iconic character.

Of even more interest is the ten or so pages at the back: 'Mankell on Wallander' which covers "how it started, how it finished and what happened in between". Mankell didn't want to just write Wallanders books because they were popular with readers but wanted to use them to say something and AN EVENT IN AUTUMN is a hint of what could have happened if Mankell hadn't been so principled. Granted it is fairly short but it feels quite sparse, lacking the social commentary that the Wallander books and Swedish crime fiction in general is associated with. Unfortunately this is it now for the series as Mankell concludes his afterword with "There are no more stories about Kurt Wallander".

AN EVENT IN AUTUMN is one for existing fans definitely, but readers new to the series might be better off starting with book one, FACELESS KILLERS, instead.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Reviewed by Terry Halligan.
(Read more of Terry's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

This extraordinary book which has just been republished, is set in America in 1969, during the Vietnam War and is written as an autobiography of Turner Raines, originally from Texas but currently living and working in New York. Raines is working as a private investigator and he is hired by a lot of individual mothers of young men, who to avoid being drafted into the US forces and to avoid being sent to Vietnam have escaped to Canada. He goes to Toronto on a number of different occasions to check that the son of a particular client is residing there and is therefore able to reassure the client. When Raines returns from Canada on a particular date he discovers to his horror that Mel Kissing, his long term childhood friend, has been murdered. He was killed by having an ice-pick slammed into his skull and unfortunately, there are fingerprints on the death implement that belong to Turner Raines.

Once the police have examined his passport and checked the truth of his alibi he is released from custody and he starts to check what happened to cause the death of Mel. Amongst Mel's belongings is a photograph of a number of his friends who had served in the US forces at that time and who had been sent to "Nam" and been involved in an incident very similar to the "My Lai Massacre" of 1968 with many unarmed Vietnamese slaughtered. All of the military participants had then returned to their base and had not been punished but had been curiously honourably discharged and returned to the USA. Raines decides to investigate by interviewing these old comrades as Mel Kissing was a reporter for the Village Voice and Raines believes that is what he would have done. Raines notices that he appears to under surveillance wherever he goes and he wonders by whom. He drives all over the US and wherever he goes he notices the same car behind him.

The book covers a lot of ground and doesn't only stick to 1969 but goes back a number of years to Raines' childhood. Contemporary events such as Woodstock and people such as Lyndon Johnson, Trickie Dickie, Norman Mailer and Abbie Hoffman are mentioned in the story and add atmosphere to great effect. There is also a lot of humour to the story but it is quite different from his series concerning Inspector Troy. It is not a fast read but it is to be enjoyed and savoured slowly. I enjoyed it tremendously and just wished that Lawton wrote a lot more books. This book was originally published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 2002 and is being republished by Grove Press to introduce a new readership to John Lawton stories.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

E-reading fans of Broadchurch will be able to get added value as Little, Brown have announced that there will be 8 e-book short stories to accompany the second series, written by Erin Kelly and Chris Chibnall:

Little, Brown Book Group is delighted to announce the planned publication of eight short stories alongside the second series of ITV’s Kudos-produced smash hit, BAFTA-award-winning show, Broadchurch.

This groundbreaking cross-media collection of stories will be published exclusively as ebooks. A creative first, they will be released at midnight following the broadcast of each episode. The stories, written by bestselling author Erin Kelly in close collaboration with Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall, will consist of 100% original material that is tied closely to that evening’s episode. The stories will offer an unrivalled opportunity for Broadchurch fans to spend more time with the cast of fantastic characters, allowing them to delve deeper into the different characters’ lives, histories and secrets. The stories are designed to be watched with specific episodes of the show, expanding on the viewer’s enjoyment of the TV series in a completely innovative fashion. They will retail at 99p each.ERIN KELLY wrote the official Broadchurch novel, published August 2014. Broadchurch was selected as a prestigious Novel of the Year (2014) by Kirkus Reviews in the USA and has been translated into eleven languages around the world, garnering international critical acclaim and bestseller status.

Friday, December 05, 2014

Reviewed by Susan White.
(Read more of Susan's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

The dance programme, Lively Toes, is a great favourite with the TV viewers who have their favourite professional dancers and celebrity partners. However, when one of the professional dancers, Jess Allward, is found dead in her dressing room, at the start of the live TV programme there is doubt whether it will be able to go ahead. As more information about Jess's background and the relationships between her and her colleagues comes to light the police have plenty of suspects but no one seems to have any opportunity. However, the police unexpectedly find assistance from the amateur sleuth - and professional dancer - Anton Caesar, who uses his inside knowledge to get to the truth.

This story is set in the world of a TV dance programme for celebrities and anyone who has watched Strictly Come Dancing will recognise some of the characters in this book. Some of them, such as the politician dancer, Cobb Grainger, are well drawn and I cannot help but think he may well be based on someone from the author's political background, however others are quite sketchily drawn in and this does detract a bit from the idea of a puzzle as it indicates quite clearly the small group of true suspects. Saying that, the ending came as quite a surprise, the author seeming to have taken to heart Ms Christie's technique of red herrings to keep the reader in the dark. This means that if you are a reader who likes to work out the puzzle provided by a murder mystery before the denouement, you might find that you do not have all the facts that you need.

The book is a light read with no unpleasantness - even the description of the murder is very low key - but great fun especially if you are a fan of the TV programme.

Thursday, December 04, 2014

I've just received the latest newsletter from Ian Rankin and it contains a bit of news about upcoming books:

October saw the launch of The Beat Goes On: The Complete Rebus Stories. Only they weren’t quite as complete as I’d hoped – just prior to publication, I found one I’d missed . . . !** Then there was a German tour. Over there, Saints of the Shadow Bible is called Sleeping Dogs, which is actually a nice title – you’ll know why if you’ve read the book! November meant South Africa and Greece, and December . . . well, in December I’ll be planning next year’s book.Does that come as news to you? Yes, I’ve signed up for two more novels. I hope to start writing the first one in January, so I’m already mulling over themes, plots, titles. I really enjoyed putting my feet up for a while, but I’m itching to get back to writing something substantial. So if you see me doing too much loitering on Twitter, tell me to get back to work!

**I heard Ian on the radio and he said the missing story would be in the paperback edition and on his website (I don't think it is there yet).

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Reviewed by Amanda Gillies.
(Read more of Amanda's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

This latest book by Lin Anderson is another in her Rhona MacLeod series and is first rate. Rhona is a highly skilled forensic expert and Anderson’s series brings her vividly to life. She is an intelligent, feisty female and it is a refreshing change to read a book that centres on a successful, professional woman who loves what she does.

In this latest instalment, Rhona is called upon to examine the body of a young man that has been found inside a Neolithic stone circle near Glasgow. The body is face down and its hands have been removed which, according to Rhona, suggests some kind of ritual killing – reinforced by a stone inside the mouth, with the number 5 on it. DI MacNab, newly promoted and keen to prove himself, is of the opinion that the victim is part of the gangland drug scene but, when another body is found in another stone circle, he is forced to change his mind.

PATHS OF THE DEAD sees Rhona working closely with several of the men in her life and it is interesting to observe the tensions between the men as they circle around her, vying for her attention and becoming a bit aggressive and jealous with each other. The way Rhona handles it all is superb. She keeps them all in their place and manages to continue to be professional, even when not all of the others are!

As the body count increases, so MacNab is forced into realising that this killer may have something to do with his own past. He puts his promotion, as well as his life, on the line as he goes in search of the man responsible for all this death. Rhona is left wondering what he is up to and, as she puts the pieces of the puzzle together, is forced to witness something that could change her relationship with MacNab for ever.

I love Lin Anderson’s series about Rhona MacLeod. It is always a delight to be asked to review another one of her books. PATHS OF THE DEAD is yet another fantastic tale. I am keener than ever to find out what happens next!

Monday, November 24, 2014

Jørn Lier Horst's THE HUNTING DOGS is the winner of the The Martin Beck Award 2014 given by the Swedish Crime Writers' Academy (Svenska Deckarakademin) for the best crime novel in translation. It is one of the most prestigious international crime-writing awards. The Jury says; An original, thrilling novel about a policeman's struggle on the edge between disaster and restoration of justice. THE HUNTING DOGS is published by Lind & Co in Sweden. They have also acquired rights for CLOSED FOR WINTER and THE CAVE MAN in the same series.

The Hunting Dogs is available in English, translated by Anne Bruce and published by Sandstone Press.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

I've updated the main files on the Euro Crime website today. Euro Crime includes both British and other European crime fiction writers (that have been published in English); non-British/European born crime writers who are strongly associated with British/European crime fiction (eg. Donna Leon), and crime writers in translation from outside of Europe.

1. The main by month/by author pages refer to when a book is published (in English) anywhere in the world however the 'by category ie historical, translated etc' is specific to the UK eg Emily Brightwell's series which was published in the US in the 1990s (and on) is only now being published in the UK and so her books are appearing in the 2014 Historical list.

2. When a book is released "early" in ebook I am taking the publication date as to be when the print edition comes out (this is the rule we use for determining Petrona Award eligibility).

As always, if you spot something wrong or missing, please do let me know.

New:The list of eligible titles for the International Dagger 2015 is visible here.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Meet Miss Nancy, who has joined the Euro Crime stable of cats, making the total 4 again. Nancy has been with us since early September. She is just over a year old and has been in a rescue place from birth. She is very timid, even still, but has improved noticeably. She can be stroked but not picked up but we are working on it. Here she is settling into her new bed. Both armchairs now have cat beds in them and the settee often has two cats on it - leaving little room for humans - though there's always the floor...

Karen Sullivan, of the newly formed indie publisher Orenda Books, is delighted to announce the acquisition of WEL ex USA rights for Finnish crime writer Kati Hiekkapelto's The Defenceless. The novel will be translated by David Hackston and published in 2015.

Karen says, 'I'm ecstatic to have signed Kati for Orenda, and very much look forward to publishing the sequel to The Hummingbird, with fabulous protagonists Anna and Esko returning for a new series of crimes. Kati is a fresh, stunning new voice on the Nordic noir scene, and she's also an extraordinary woman. You can expect to see lots of her in the coming year, with a film in the pipeline and numerous festival appearances booked.'

Kati says, 'For a Finnish writer, being published in English has always been a bit of a pipe dream, as it's often difficult to find a publisher. Working with Orenda Books seems like double luck! With Karen's passion for and devotion to her writers, nothing seems impossible! I'm really happy to work with her.'

Monday, November 17, 2014

It's time to consider the titles eligible for the 2015 CWA International Dagger.

Here's the list so far of translated crime novels published between June 2014 and May 2015 ie the period of eligibility. There's 94* so far (cf 88 last year). NB. Only 1 book per author can be submitted for consideration.

For ease of purchase/library reservation here they are listed by UK month of publication:

In addition to the list I have set up a Good Reads widget on the right-hand side of the blog. This allows the covers to be visible plus you can add them to your wish-list on Good Reads. Should you wish to, you can subscribe to this list through RSS. I've added as many as I can find though I have used the original covers if the English one isn't on Good Reads yet.

In the list below I've also included the country of birth and gender of the author(s) plus the translator's name (where I can find it) and the publisher.

*this total includes titles published by Amazon Crossing, which I have flagged. I am not sure if these count as UK publications however I imagine people interested in this list will also be interested in these books. Also listed but not eligible are ebook only publications and short story collections. I have left them in for the same reason.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Mark Lawson's Foreign Bodies returns tomorrow (17/11) at 13.45 on Radio 4, for series 3. This time, "Mark Lawson examines how mystery novels have reflected five different political systems".

The first episode is about Cuba and Communism:

To complement Radio 4's major dramatisations of The Havana Quartet by Cuba's leading crime writer, Leonardo Padura, Mark Lawson examines how mystery novels have reflected five different political systems in a new series of Foreign Bodies.

In today's programme Mark Lawson explores fictional investigations of Cuba after the Castro revolution with Leonardo Padura, author of The Havana Quartet, and Caroline Garcia-Aquilera, a Cuban-American writing from exile in Miami.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

In case you missed this on Twitter, Orenda Books have unveiled the cover for Ragnar Jonasson's Snowblind. Snowblind is being translated by Quentin Bates (author of the Gunnhildur series) and will be published in June 2015. This will make it eligible for the 2016 Petrona Award (for publications in 2015) and eligible for the next CWA International Dagger (ie not the current one - list of eligibles coming soon I promise).

Friday, November 07, 2014

Reviewed by Michelle Peckham.
(Read more of Michelle's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

In what I'm sure will be a new series of stories from Chris Nickson, once again set in Leeds, the era is now the slightly more modern one of 1890, and the new hero of the story is Inspector Tom Harper. Tom is soon to be married to a strong female character called Annabelle; a woman who runs several businesses, including a pub, she makes a good foil to Tom.

As the story opens, Tom is pounding down Briggate, running after a criminal, but unfortunately loses him. He is then alerted to a case of a missing girl called Martha. Her mother Betty is in Armley Jail, and she should be still living with her father Col Parkinson. But she hasn’t been seen for a few days, and Col claims that Martha's been sent to his sister in Halifax. But is he telling the truth? Before Tom can start investigating further, all leave is cancelled due to the gas strike. Replacement workers are being brought in to make sure that the gas supply is able to continue. Of course this is an era when houses were lit by gas lamps, and industries depended on the supply of gas. As such the threat of an interruption to gas supply would have a big effect on the local economy, and the police are needed to keep order. But then Col is found dead, and it looks like suicide. Except that a few things look suspicious, and Col was seen with a couple of shady looking characters just before he was found dead. And Betty tells the police that he doesn’t have a sister in Halifax.

Tom is tasked with finding Martha, and Col's killers, and then the perpetrators of yet another murder that happens in the melee of the replacement workers, strikers and policemen. Gradually the two plot lines throw up some connections, and Tom is able to make some progress with his investigation, with a few twists and turns along the way.

The feel of the book is somewhat similar to Nickson's earlier books, with the back story of Tom and his relationship with his wife to be, and his professional relationship with his juniors, and with his senior commanding officer. And there is a bit of necessary negotiating to do with the leader of the local union, to help the plot along. It's interesting to see a more modern updated Leeds, with the little bits of local history thrown in. If you liked the original series of Chris Nickson books, you’ll like this one, even perhaps a little more.

Thursday, November 06, 2014

Newly launched independent Orenda Books has signed three books from a Norwegian crime writer.

Karen Sullivan, the former managing editor at Arcadia Books, signed world English rights for three titles by Gunnar Staalesen, We Shall Inherit the Wind, No One is Safe in Danger, and Where Roses Never Die [] the books will be translated by Don Bartlett, who has previously translated works by Jo Nesbo.

Staalsen was previously published in the UK by Arcadia.

Sullivan said: "This is a landmark signing for Orenda, and I’m absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to publish Gunnar Staalesen, who is not only one of the finest international crime writers around, but undeniably a father of Nordic noir. Author of over 25 crime thrillers featuring Bergen PI Varg Veum, the time is ripe for Gunnar to achieve the worldwide recognition he deserves."

We Shall Inherit the Wind will be published in June 2015, with the other titles following in 2016 and 2017. Staalesen will make festival appearances to promote the titles.

The latest monthly challenge over at Past Offences is to read a book in November, published in 1946. Here are a few classic crime titles to choose from, first published in English in 1946, pulled from my database:

Friday, October 24, 2014

Just received news of the winners of the Gold, Creasey, Steel and TV & Film Daggers. Here's the press release (book-related awards are in red):

Keeley Hawes and Matthew McConaughey won the Best Actress and Best Actor awards at the prestigious Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards 2014, held at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel tonight.

The star-studded awards ceremony was hosted by Bradley Walsh and attended by the cream of actors, writers and producers from the world of crime TV and fiction, including Keeley Hawes, Stanley Tucci, Anna Maxwell Martin, James Norton, Rachael Stirling and Amanda Abbington.

Authors who received recognition at the awards, which celebrate the best in crime fiction on TV and in books, included Peter May, Wiley Cash and Robert Harris.

For the first time a whole series, ITV’s Midsomer Murders, was inducted into the Hall of Fame, and the cast and crew turned out in force to collect their Award.

The glittering event, organised by Cactus TV and ITV3 in partnership with the Crime Writers’ Association, saw and Happy Valley win the TV Dagger and True Detective win the International TV Dagger.

Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards Winners are:

●Keeley Hawes for Line of Duty – Dagger for Best Actress

●Matthew McConaughey for True Detective - Dagger for Best Actor

●James Norton for Happy Valley - Dagger for Best Supporting Actor

●Amanda Abbington for Sherlock- Dagger for Best Supporting Actress

●Happy Valley – Dagger for Best TV Series

●True Detective– Dagger for Best International TV Series

●Cold in July- Dagger for Best Film

●Peter May - Crime Thriller Book Club Best Read of the Year

●Wiley Cash- CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger

●Ray Celestin - CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger

●Robert Harris - CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the Year

●Denise Mina, Robert Harris and Midsomer Murders were inducted into the Hall of Fame

The awards, now in their seventh year, mark the culmination of ITV3’s six-week prime time series, The Specsavers Crime Thriller Club.The ceremony will be shown on ITV3 at 9pm, Monday 27 October 2014.

The Specsavers Crime Thriller Book Club Best Read of the year was awarded to Peter May for ‘Entry Island’. This award is selected by a group of independent publishing experts from the Awards Academy, from a shortlist of 6 great Crime reads featured throughout the Crime Thriller Club Series on ITV3.

This year’s CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year was won by Wiley Cash for debut novel This Dark Road to Mercy, a story of blood and vengeance involving two young sisters. Cash’s book beat an exceptional line-up of likely suspects including Paul Mendelson’s The First Rule of Survival, Louise Penny’s How the Light Gets In and Paula Daly’s Keep Your Friends Close to win the prestigious award.

The CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger for Best New Crime Writer of the Year was awarded to Ray Celestin for his debut novel The Axeman’s Jazz. Named the most wanted new author in crime fiction, Celestin’s The Axeman’s Jazz and its tale of an axe killer with a mysterious identity beat off competition from M.J. Carter’s The Strangler Vine, Antonia Hodgson’s The Devil in the Marshalsea and A.S.A. Harrison’s The Silent Wife to take home the award.

The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the Year went to Robert Harris for An Officer and a Spy. This bestselling author thriller battled it out against Terry Hayes for I Am Pilgrim, Greg Iles for Natchez Burning and Louise Doughty for Apple Tree Yard to win the esteemed award.

Reviewed by Amanda Gillies.
(Read more of Amanda's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

This is the debut novel for A J McCreanor and it is first-rate. A real page-turner, it gets into your head and niggles away at you when you aren’t reading it. The solution is not an easy one to guess and you are desperate to find out who the guilty party actually is. It is right up my street! Although she no longer lives there, the author was born in Glasgow, and indeed that is where the story is set. You can tell it is a place that she knows well.

The story opens with two young lads trying their luck at housebreaking. To their horror, they find that owner of the house is not out, as they had hoped, but dead and swinging from a beam in the ceiling in the lounge by means of a rope. They call the police and the hunt is on to find the killer and his/her motive.

The deceased, a Mr James Gilmore, was a quiet and solitary individual. He worked as a psychologist and was involved with helping troubled youngsters at the schools in the area. DIs Steven Ross and Kat Wheeler are called in to solve the crime but it is not a straightforward case, as Gilmore lived a ghost-like existence and nobody knows much about him or his work. Determined to get to the bottom of this particularly brutal murder, they dig deeper and find themselves face-to-face with less than savoury characters involved in Glasgow’s underworld. All the while, the killer is watching them. Waiting…

A super story with a breath-taking ending that leaves you wondering whether the truth is better left unsaid at times. I loved this story and am keen to read more by this author in the future. She is definitely a name to watch!

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Leif Davidsen'sThe Serbian Dane was first published in Danish in 1996 and was published in English in 2007 courtesy of a translation by Barbara J Haveland. It has just been reprinted with a new cover (the old cover is on the right):

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Reviewed by Terry Halligan.
(Read more of Terry's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

London, 1986. A newspaper editor is horrifically murdered, his death quickly followed by a series of more brutal, and often bizarre, slayings. The police are baffled, the only clear link between the murders being a single blood red rose left at the scene of every killing. Why? What does the rose mean? What connects the killer to each bloody corpse? Scotland Yard detective Alan Winters leads a hunt for the elusive prey. As the body count rises, Jennifer Chapman, renowned investigative journalist and daughter of the murdered newspaper editor, sets out on a personal quest for revenge. Drawn together in their pursuit of a deadly quarry, Winters and Jennifer unwittingly face a fatal surprise, for the killer is closer than they think. As they close in on the truth of the blood red rose, their unseen foe plots a shattering end to his reign of terror, and death awaits them all.

This first new police procedural from this very talented new South African author will keep you engrossed until the last exciting page. I really enjoyed the very tight plotting and immensely imaginative story. The richly drawn characters, such as Inspector Alan Winters and his associate Superintendent Van Deventer, I found very fascinating and I hope that they are featured in future books. I understand that the author was a Chief Crime Reporter in Johannesburg's biggest daily newspaper and has personal experience of dozens of violent cases of murder to draw on. Having personal experience from what is considered the crime capital of the world is an invaluable experience for an author. The book, as it was based in 1986 is very atmospheric and well researched and I didn't detect any flaws in his presentation of London during that period.

The author brings out the troubled relationship between the police, who just want to get on and investigate the crime and the press who want to provide details to their readers, that may interfere with the enquiry and how the happy balance between these two opposing forces can be agreed. I was enthralled by the suspense and the brutal reality of the story and I do hope that this becomes a series and I look forward to reading books by this author again. I have read books by the only other South African mystery author I'm familiar with, Deon Meyer, but he writes his stories set in his country of residence whereas Kevin Murray is writing about London which is no mean feat for a foreign based author. Strongly recommended.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Production has begun on River, a new drama series written and created by Emmy award-winning Abi Morgan for BBC One.Stellan Skarsgård (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) stars as John River, a brilliant police officer whose genius and fault-line is the fragility of his mind - a man haunted by the murder victims whose cases he must lay to rest.Nicola Walker will play River’s colleague and confidant, Detective Sergeant Jackie ‘Stevie’ Stevenson, with Adeel Akhtar as Detective Sergeant Ira King. Lesley Manville will play their superior, Chief Inspector Chrissie Read. Eddie Marsan also joins the cast as a notorious killer who haunts River.Further confirmed cast include Sorcha Cusack as Stevie’s mother, Bridie, and Georgina Rich plays police psychiatrist, Rosa. The 6x60-minute series [] is being filmed in East London for transmission in 2015.

Lynn Harvey reviews Georges Simenon's Pietr the Latvian freshly translated by David Bellos as part of Penguin's project to republish and re-translate all the Maigret novels; this being the first in the series;

Laura Root reviews Vidar Sundstol's Only the Dead translated by Tiinna Nunnally and is the middle part of the Minnesota trilogy

Friday, October 10, 2014

From today's Bookseller, Ragnar Jónasson has been signed up by new company Orenda Books:

Arcadia Books managing editor Karen Sullivan has left the company to set up her own publishing company, Orenda Books.

Launching next week with a small, “exciting” list of commercial literary fiction, the company has already signed three début novels, including David F Ross’ The Last Days of Disco, which Sullivan said will draw comparison with Roddy Doyle and Irvine Welsh.

Sullivan has also negotiated British Commonwealth rights with David Headley at DHH Literary Agency and Monica Gram at Leonhardt & Høier Literary Agency A/S for Icelandic crime writer Ragnar Jónasson’s atmospheric, gritty début thriller Snowblind, and a second title, Dark Night (Bjartur Veröld). It will be author Jónasson’s first publication in English.

A review copy of John Martin's Crime Scene Britain and Ireland: A Reader's Guide arrived this morning. It's available to buy now and from a quick flick (at the East Anglia section naturally), is the sort of book I would love to have written, sigh, but at least the Euro Crime website gets a credit.

Here's the blurb:

This book is for all readers of crime fiction. Dividing Britain and Ireland into twelve regions, the author describes the work of contemporary and historic crime writers and their novels where the setting of the novel is crucial, giving the story context and local relevance. While regional crime novels go back to The Hound of the Baskervilles, identifiably regional crime within specific cityscapes and landscapes only came into its own twenty years ago with Ian Rankin, John Harvey and Val McDermid. Their work, together with hundreds of others, and thousands of titles are described in this volume which will be essential for the serious crime reader.

Another title, which might also be of interest is Scene of the Crime: A Guide to the Landscapes of British Detective Fiction (2002) by Julian Earwaker and Kathleen Becker, which is now out of print but second-hand copies are available (at least at amazon). The blurb:

Great writers of crime fiction not only create memorable detective heroes, they also firmly establish them in a setting. The home counties town of "King's Markham", for example, is the perfect "patch" for Ruth Rendell's Inspector Wexford and Ellis Peter's Brother Cadfael is as inseparable from the cloisters of medieval Shrewsbury as John Harvey's D.I. Resnick is from the mean streets of modern Nottingham. Addicts of the British detective story should enjoy this gazetteer. With it in their hands they can navigate the streets and alleyways of Edinburgh where Sherlock Holmes sprang to life in Conan Doyle's imagination and where Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus now tracks down villainy (and a dram or two). They can explore the desolate coast of East Anglia, a favoured venue for P.D. James' Adam Dagliesh and the home of Margery Allingham, who also set many of the adventures of her enigmatic Albert Campion amid the Essex marshlands. In Oxford, they can tread in the footsteps of Inspector Morse or pay homage at the site where, in "Gaudy Night", Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey embraced - at long last - his Harriet Vane. The many black and white and colour photographs evoke the atmosphere and history of these and many other settings with which hundreds of thousands of readers will already be familiar in their imaginations. Based on interviews with leading writers and extensive research, and fuelled by the authors' enthusiasm for Britain's most popular literary form, this book should be an interesting read for all crime addicts.

Thursday, October 09, 2014

Only the Dead by Vidar Sundstol translated by Tiina Nunnally, September 2014, 152 pages, University of Minnesota Press, ISBN: 0816689423

Reviewed by Laura Root.
(Read more of Laura's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

ONLY THE DEAD is the second in the acclaimed Minnesota trilogy by Norwegian author Vidar Sundstol, set around Lake Superior and takes place soon after the end of the first instalment, THE LAND OF DREAMS. In THE LAND OF DREAMS Forestry Services cop Lance Hansen found the body of a young Norwegian tourist at Baraga's Cross, and was involved in the investigation of the murder. As a local history enthusiast, Lance has also become obsessed with another possible murder that took place in the area over a hundred years previously, of a Native American trapper, Swamper Caribou, who disappeared in suspicious circumstances.

At the start of this novel, Lance is supposedly taking it easy on a weekend hunting trip with his brother Andy. But despite the tidy resolution of the murder case, Lance is riven by doubts. He is unable to voice his suspicions of Andy, who lied about his whereabouts on the night of the murder and becomes increasingly unable to act naturally around him. Lance's Ojibwe ex-father-in-law tries to reach out to Lance, sensing the stress that he is under, but Lance is unreceptive. An incident where Lance uses excessive violence when carrying out what he justifies as a mercy killing of a wild animal seriously injured by his car, shows that Lance may not the stolid principled man he seemed in the previous book.

When Lance goes out on a second hunting trip with Andy, the scene is set for fraternal relations to deteriorate further. Sundstol alternates the story of paranoid fear and suspicion between Lance and Andy with a similar tale over a hundred years early, of the relationship between Lance's ancestor, Norwegian immigrant Thorson Ormod, and the lethal distrust he develops towards Swamper Caribou, who rescues him after he falls through ice in Lake Superior and takes him to his cabin to dry off. (Though whether this version of events is to be accepted by the reader as definitive, or the product of Lance's imagination remains ambiguous).

ONLY THE DEAD has a very different feel to the previous instalment in the series. THE LAND OF DREAMS opened out, via the central character Lance Hansen, to show a whole community and way of life of a Scandinavian-American diaspora, and how they are viewed by big city incomers, such as the FBI agents involved in investigating the murder at Baraga's Cross. By contrast ONLY THE DEAD is a claustrophobic thriller focussing on the interaction between hunter and the environment, and between two sets of men, the Hansen brothers Lance and Andy, and the men of the past, Thorson and Swamper Caribou, where the hunter becomes the hunted and vice versa.

Although hunting-based thrillers tend not to be my choice of reading, I found ONLY THE DEAD was genuinely gripping. The author was very successful in building up tension in the relationships between the men, and showing how fear and poor communication can lead to fatal misunderstandings. Sundstol also very convincingly shows the perils faced by his characters in dealing with the hostile environment of the wintry lake and forest. Overall I felt this was an unexpected but surprisingly enjoyable follow up to the first book in the series, and I look forward to seeing how this trilogy is concluded. Although this book could work as a standalone, I would recommend reading THE LAND OF DREAMS before this book, to see the characters in their full context.